World Walker Park [Magical Amusement Park Base-Building]

The last and final ride within the park's newest section was Stag Safari, a tenuous adventure through various terrains and ecologies. It was the headliner of the area, a ride everyone who visited the park would want to ride. Some may not have enough time, the line was already quite long, others may ride a few other things in its place. Whatever the case, the ride was here. It was beautiful. And it was unlike any of the other rides.

"Today we embark on a journey, a journey into the unknown, into the imagination of the very gods who designed this world," the safari guide said, her voice chilling. "Make sure to keep all hands, arms, appendages, tentacles, and eyeballs inside the buggy at all times."

The buggy was a car.

Simple as that.

It held twenty-five and towered over bushes and plants like a giraffe—sightseeing, birdwatching, and monster ecology were a bad hobby when low to the ground. Across the seat in front of the riders, small hand-painted pictures of the animals, beasts, and monsters living on the trail were presented. Spot them all and maybe win a prize! Or maybe not. It depended on who was working that day and if they were in a good mood.

Annie and Luka sat in the back, smushed together at the end of a row with a family of minotaur. "I hope we get to see something scary!" shouted the teenage son.

The mother whuffled. "Don't say such a thing!"

The father chuckled. "Let the boy hold his hopes. As long as the monsters do not eat him, all is fine."

The boy looked horrified, but in an interested, sadistic kind of way. Maybe getting eaten by a monster wouldn't be soooo bad, as long as he got a cool story to tell his friend back home.

The ride officially started and soon the buggy was crossing the forest into the safari zone. While technically part of the park, the only way to explore this area was either through Stag Safari or as a veterinarian taking care of the animals.

"We could offer tours," Annie whispered. "Make it an additional cost and have limited availability."

Luka nodded along. "All proceeds go to animal maintenance and enrichment?"

Annie liked the sound of that. A little too loudly, she said, "Maybe we won't have to sacrifice kids anymore if we provide enough snacks."

The minotaur boy looked horrified. The parents snickered. "You two work for the park, then?" asked the father.

"We do. Anything we can take back to our bosses? Thoughts, concerns?" asked Luka, sharing a look with Annie.

Obviously, these people didn't know who he was, let alone Annie. Most, in fact, couldn't recognize the World Walker, not when he was beside them. Standing on air and talking into an enchanted stick? Sure, everyone knew who he was then.

The mother minotaur hummed. "Maybe more bathrooms? Feels like we've got to hoof it across the park to find one."

Annie squinted. "Was that pun intentional?"

"What pun?"

"Hoof—you know what? Never mind. More bathrooms will always be nice."

"Self-cleaning bathrooms," Luka added. "I'll let management know."

"Maybe something more intense?" offered the boy.

"More intense than this?" countered Annie.

Currently, the buggy was stuck. A pair of golden fleeced sheep were busy eating a weed growing from the embedded tire tracks on the pathway. Luka frowned at this, craning his neck to look behind them. Three other buggies were backed up, all waiting on the two sheep.

Luka made a note to talk with the ride operators about this issue. Driving around animals on the path wasn't out of the question. Neither was calling over a vet to move them. Maybe even—

The safari leader leaned out of the buggy window and yelled, "Move, you damn sheep!"

The sheep ignored her and continued chewing.

She then made an affronted grunt as everyone in the buggy laughed.

"Note to self," Luka muttered quietly, "add snacks near the path so animals graze in view but away from bogging up the buggies."

Stolen novel; please report.

"How intense?" Annie asked the boy.

"I want to go upside down! My friend Greg—"

"Oh lordy, here we go," whispered the father.

"—was telling me that on the World Walker's home, the amusement park rides there are much scarier! They flip and spin and zoom you across the sky! The rollercoasters here are cool and all, but like!!! More!!! You know?"

"How does your friend know what the World Walker's world is like?" Annie asked.

The boy waved his hand. "He's pen pals with a different World Walker from the same planet. The gods told my friend's World Walker about his home planet after his death and about the park's World Walker's creations."

Luka frowned. There were a lot of ambiguous pronouns in those statements. "Your friend is pen pals with a World Walker?"

"Yeah! In school, our teacher made us write the World Walker a letter after he gave the class a 'motivational speech.' It was super boring, but that's okay. I got to skip reading for the day to listen to the man ramble about something called 'physics.'"

"And the World Walker wrote back and they became friends?"

"Yeah, Greg mentioned how he was sad because some other kids were picking on him, and the World Walker responded with a 'physics' way to break the other kids' noses! 'Every action has an equal and opposite attraction?' Or something like that."

"Greg was suspended for three days after the fight," the mother said. "The bullies got a week. Personally, I think Greg should've been absolved for the fight, but the school has a zero tolerance for fights policy. So, he was punished as well."

"Yeah!" the boy shouted. "And after, Greg thanked the World Walker, and they've stayed in touch! Greg even interviewed the man for an assignment. He got a C but that wasn't because the World Walker's answers were boring or anything. Greg's just kinda dumb."

"That was why the others picked on him," said the father.

"Greg's really nice, yeah, but he's kinda dumb," the boy added.

Luka scratched his face. "Has, uh, Greg been to the park yet?"

"No—he's poor and can't afford to come."

That was not the answer Luka was expecting yet rolled with it. He fished a stack of wooden coins from his pocket, altering them with magic to a different design. "Here," he said, handing over the coins. "For Greg."

"What are they?" asked the boy.

"All expenses paid passes for the park and a free room for five days at World Tree Inn."

The boy's eyes widened. "

"They'll have to figure out transportation here," Annie quickly said, "But once here, food, admission, room and board—all of it, free."

"That's very generous," laughed the mother. "Are you sure you two won't be in trouble for giving these out? You mentioned your bosses earlier."

Luka shrugged. "It's okay. They're cool."

"Epic," whispered the boy, clutching the coins like they were a national treasure. "Greg's never going to believe this!"

***

The day came to an end and the park finally closed. Eight copies of Ressen stood proud, every single room filled with a family of faithful. There were just enough rooms, and soon enough the tired guests were drifting off to sleep after a fun-filled day. Tomorrow would be day two in the park for most, then day three… and four.

When were the faithful leaving again?

Luka glanced up at the heavens. He could ask… then again, it didn't matter. Not really. The park was packed, profits were through the roof, and everyone was happy—albeit a tad overworked.

"Note to self," Luka quietly said, "hire more employees."

"Thank the gods!" Franky practically yelled. "I was hoping you would! My feet are sore from how much walking I did today!"

Franky was on rotational relief today. The job was simple, go around the park offering temporary relief to other employees who were scheduled for their breaks. It wasn't anything difficult, simple thirty-minute shifts at various gift shops, food stalls, or ride operations, then across the park to a different spot. The issue was venturing from one corner of the park to the other again and again.

"Note to self," Luka said, "create a quadrant map for rotational relief employees so they don't have to go everywhere around the park and can stay in a relatively small area."

Franky sighed euphorically. "You're a saint."

Eve chuckled and took a drag of prism puff. "Whose turn was it again?"

Vale, clutching her employee of the month plaque to her chest, said, "Annie's."

The World Walker flinched. "Oh, my bad," she said, then rolled a trio of dice, one of which glowed ethereal and landed on an angelic wing. She then moved her Spire card one centimeter to the right and added a biomechanical artifact mace to it. An angelic feather popped into existence and the glowing dice faded away.

"And I will place my angelic wing in attack mode and end my turn." Annie smirked proudly at her husband. "Your turn."

Vladdy frowned. "Uh oh. Honey, Sweety, Love of My Life, you're not going to like me after this." He flipped a card of his own, showing off a grim reaper-like figure.

"Ahhh, the instant death card," Vale chortled. "Brutal."

Annie's face fell and she glared at her husband as she brushed her cards into the graveyard.

Feeling a tad mischievous, Luka took another hit of prism puff then said, "No, you can't do that Vladdy." Was that true? He had no idea. But it would be fun to watch them bicker amongst themselves.

Vale leaned in, as did Eve, Franky, Alex, and Annie—who was suddenly looking very focused.

Let the games begin, thought Luka.